


Loki is...a Jotun

by Ragingstillness



Series: Loki is... [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Extremis Pepper Potts, Multi, my jotun hcs, playing around with temperature differences, some time after avengers, unclear timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 04:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19456021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragingstillness/pseuds/Ragingstillness
Summary: Day two of frostiron month.





	Loki is...a Jotun

It was absolutely freezing. For Loki, this wasn’t a problem. He could lay on the hard cement as much as he could on the thin cot he had been provided and the temperature difference wouldn’t give him a shade of goosebumps. This made the supposed discomfort the Avengers had tried to subject him to by putting his cage at the bottom of the tower’s many basements rather useless. The only thing that was in danger of freezing was Loki’s rage.

Over time he had felt his burning emotions sink under the wave of boredom that had taken over his life. Food was delivered by robot, through a tiny slot. The wall never changed, there was no window, so he had no idea when it was morning and when it was night. Sleep changed nothing as well, the fluorescent lights remaining on even when he closed his eyes.

Bodily needs didn’t come with as much frequency as they did for the squishy mortals thus he couldn’t tell time on their planet by that either. Slowly Loki’s emotions were all subdued, until he realized that he hadn’t felt anything beyond a baseline for nine food cycles.

This was much more dangerous than anything else because when Loki got quiet Loki got to thinking and when Loki got to thinking the idea of biting his own tongue out and slicing his wrists with his over long nails became more appealing. Anything, to end the tedium.

This apathy was why he was absolutely stunned the first time the flaming woman came through the large metal slab that served as a door to the basement. She stumbled in, long flame colored sheets of hair falling down her back and shoulders, matched only by the faint glowing veins beneath her skin and in the back of her eyes. Loki vaguely recognized her as Stark’s romantic interest of the moment.

He had barely caught a glimpse of her, only standing beside Stark during the brief hearing on the New York attack he was required to attend.

She said nothing to Loki, just collapsed against the wall, her head down and arms strewn across her knees, which were folded just so that no one could look up her skirt, but she was as spread out as possible.

He made no move to engage her, merely sat in his glass cage, watching to see if she was a hallucination and if she wasn’t if she’d continue to do something interesting. She said nothing, merely breathed harshly to herself, then stood up after about fifteen minutes, Loki counted, dusted herself off, and left, without glancing once in his direction.

The women returned several times after that, each time burning brighter and brighter under her skin, taking longer to cool off.

The fifth time Loki found himself watching her, she leaned back, eyes closed, tipping a sweaty forehead against the concrete walls. He couldn’t catch a glimpse of her eyes, but her face was set in hard lines. Her makeup accentuated all her best features, but she had near sweated it off with the heat off her skin. If Loki squinted her could even pick out the glow of her irises under her eyelids.

That was the first day she spoke to him. Just a basic greeting, then a short conversation, an apology for intruding on his space, some questions about his imprisonment. Each incident she got more and more interested in him and when he began to respond he used that interest to draw facts out of her as well. She was good, and nothing resembling a secret passed her lips, but Loki was trained to hear what wasn’t being said through what was.

He learned that the glow was the result of a poison of some sort that woman had been injected with. It responded to her anger and while Stark was hard at work trying to neutralize it, she was having a hard time controlling it. The danger, should she lose control, sounded pretty serious, likely death or spontaneous combustion. Loki was interested to see if the slight mortal would reach that point.

He told her what she wanted to hear, little anecdotes of his childhood, descriptions of his current condition, thoughts on the universe. They didn’t have a ton in common, but they got along for the most part.

Then for a long time she didn’t come at all. Loki resigned himself to the fact that she had either died or gotten tired of him. If the cell seemed a little darker without her flaming body and hair, no one had to know.

Sometime after that she appeared again, panting and sweating again, barely holding herself up as she trudged into the room. This time, however, she wasn’t alone. The rest of the Avengers busted in after her, crowding her and only antagonizing her more. They were clearly trying to find a solution to her situation but were failing and getting more nervous because of it.

Loki moved off the bed, and towards the glass, observing the spectacle. The closer he got, the more it became clear that parts of the woman’s body were actually on fire. It seemed to hurt as it made her yell louder but the louder she yelled the more she burned.

The Man of Iron appeared the most concerned, leaning as close as he could to the woman, and was the only one speaking to her in a calm tone of voice. He reached out, grasping a part of the woman’s arm that wasn’t quite on fire yet. Loki heard her protest of it from his cage.

The Man out of Time was shouting orders at the woman and the Man of Iron. He was being completely ignored by them and most ignored by the others. Finally, the Man of Iron got fed up and stood, getting right into the face of the Man out of Time.

“Get out of our faces Rogers. I know you’re used to when people listen to you but we’re not on the field right now and if we don’t cool Pepper down she’s going to explode. This is technology is too new for someone who can’t even do Advanced Search on Google. Go away and take your groupies with you!”

The Man out of Time reacted negatively to that, puffing up his chest and clearly getting ready to yell. It was clear that the Pepper woman didn’t have time for this pissing contest.

Loki drew his fist back and slammed it into the wall of the cage as hard as he could. Everyone’s eyes flashed to him, even Thor only just noticing he was there. Loki waved soundlessly at the locked door. The Man out of Time scoffed and glared at Loki.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be damaged in the explosion.”

The Man of Iron made a noise of pure anger. “Do you care at all? You’re just ready for the love of my life to die?!”

Loki growled and banged his fist on the glass a few more times. It bent a bit under the pressure, but he didn’t have the focus to worry about it. When they all had quieted down, except for the Pepper woman who was still breathing heavily, her burning hands dug into her hair.

“I.Can.Help.Her.”

Thor got a thoughtful look on his face, but the rest of the Avengers exploded into complaints and dismissals. Loki growled again, deeper now.

“I don’t have the time and neither does she.” The sounds didn’t get any softer. Loki banged his fist one more time. “Man of Iron, the this cage shows inner temperature right? Tell me what you see.”

Loki normally would never do this, but at the very least it was a good way to get in the Avengers’ good graces. He wouldn’t admit to himself that the woman now gasping in the corner may have also factored into his decision.

Loki focused on how it felt to have the Casket of Ancient Winters in his hands. And the cold came, blue rushing over his skin, his nerves near painfully sensitive to the air, raised as they were from his skin. His field of vision shifted as well, the ultraviolent spectrum becoming visible to his red eyes.

The Man of Iron followed his direction as the others merely fussed about this new change as they always did. The Man of Iron processed what he was seeing, looked up to lock eyes with Loki for a very serious moment. Loki stared back solidly and finally the Man of Iron shrugged and strode towards the door to Loki’s cell, opening it before the others could stop him.

In the commotion Loki slipped past them and got around to near the Pepper woman. He flicked his fingers and was disappointed to find his magic inactive and rusty. Oh well, the old-fashioned way would work just as well.

Loki reached up over his head and tore his shirt off. The sounds behind him got louder, demanding what he was doing. Thor was holding them back, but his calming words ceased to be effective when Loki followed his first move by ripping his pants off, leaving him in the SHIELD issued boxers.

Someone had thought it was funny to give him underwear with tiny Mjolnirs on them and even over the sound of running feet Loki heard Thor snort. His ears were extra sensitive in this form.

The Pepper woman had already unbuttoned her shirt almost to her belly button and her skirt was thankfully short enough for this to be effective. Loki knelt on the floor next to her and had just made contact with the woman’s arm when super soldier strength dug into his shoulder and tried to pull him back.

Loki focused all his accessible magic into making himself heavy, too much so to move. The Man out of Time pulled again but got nowhere.

Loki took advantage of his surprise to reach closer towards the Pepper woman and pull her towards him. Her body aligned with his and there was a sudden sound like water boiling and a thick layer of steam rose up.

Loki wrapped himself around as much of her as he could reach and encouraged her to bury her face in his neck. She caught on quickly and moved to touch as much skin to skin as she could. It took a little while but as the steam cleared less of it was produced from their contact. Behind Loki’s eyelids her skin had stopped glowing.

He kept her in his arms until she started shivering then released her. She didn’t move very far, surprising him. Her eyes were awash with half frozen tears but what he didn’t see was fear.

His view was interrupted by the cessation of his spell when he wasn’t paying attention and how the Man out of Time ripped him along the rough floor by his shoulder. He grunted at the scraping his back received then there were more voices yelling and arguing.

The Man of Iron and Thor were defending him as was the slightly hoarse voice of the Pepper woman. As Loki managed to focus enough to make out their actual words, he learned that Pepper was not an adjective as he had assumed but was actually the woman’s name.

The fighting didn’t seem soon to end, but something in Loki’s frozen body felt curiously melted at the passion in the strong voice of his brother, the Man of Iron, and the now strong tones of Pepper. He didn’t bother to cut in, closing his eyes against the noise, a tiny smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoy! I've had this in the works for a while. I did not edit at all and didn't even peek at my original outline and oddly enough this turned out less dramatic than I had planned.


End file.
